February 15, 2012

TCU coach Gary Patterson comments released in statement:

"There are days people want to be a head football coach, but today is not one of those days. As I heard the news this morning, I was first shocked, then hurt and now I’m mad.

"Under my watch, drugs and drug use by TCU’s student-athletes will not be tolerated by me or any member of my coaching staff. Period. Our program is respected nationally for its strong ethics and for that reason the players arrested today were separated from TCU by the University. I believe strongly that young people’s lives are more important than wins or losses.

"This situation isn’t unique to TCU—it is a global issue that we all have to address. This isn’t just about bad decisions made by a small percentage of my team. It is about a bigger issue across this country and world.

"As a coach, I do the best I can to educate members of my team. We have programs in place that teach student-athletes about what they should and shouldn’t do and how to be successful in life. I talk to them about how to be students and upstanding men that uphold the TCU name and its traditions.

"At the end of the day, though, sometimes young people make poor choices. The Horned Frogs are bigger and stronger than those involved."

Comments

Coach Patterson and TCU will handle this with the integrity and class that makes TCU unique in college football. I hope the students arrested get help for their problems, but playing for the Horned Frogs is a privilege, and they have thrown away that privilege for a few bucks.

We need to keep all of them in our prayers right now, for there are a lot of hurt and angry people on the TCU campus today. TCU deserves better than this from its own students.

Now THIS is a coach. It would be easy right now to remind people of the consequences to universities that come from not having strong ethical standards but I won't. I didn't attend TCU but am proud of this response as a Texan.

Wow, a coach with Ethics? This is awesome and although I didnt attend TCU I am very proud of the University and only wish he would have decided to take up employement down highway 6 to college station!

Coach P is a man with very strong Ethics which there a number of coaches that are only interested in WINS and his team will come out stronger from this mess. Sadly but the truth is this is something that goes on at nearly every campus from high school up and including the pros.
Still glad to see TCU with the Big12, where they should have been from the start.

So he "kicked off" four players that were already expelled from TCU, and this makes him an ethical man? What about his failure to address the mandatory drug test given to the entire team on February 1st; the arrest affidavits' statements implying that almost 3/4 of the football team would fail those tests; and the results of those drug tests? Let's see how he handles the other issues associated with this situation.

Lots of coaches across college football have had no problem throwing arrested drug dealers off the team. In fact, can anyone point to a college coach that has knowingly kept a drug dealer on the team following his arrest? Makes me laugh to see folks, hats over heart, commending Patterson's ethics for something every coach does.

First off a drug dealer told this to an undercover police officer. The actual drug test results will show the truth. This is the same team that had Andy Dalton 2 years ago. The kids who fail the test are not drug dealers but college students who use drugs (wow what a shock). They will need to be handled differently. Of course if these student athletes show remorse and take the appropriate steps to clean themselves up I am behind them 100% but if they show attitude they need to be gone.

Before everybody shows blind support for the coach for his actions after the fact, lets find out what he knew last month and last year. A problem of this magnitude doesn't happen overnight. The coach knew, or SHOULD HAVE KNOWN of this rampant drug use long before the cops got involved. I see the coach's statements as trying to make the best of his past failings. I see over and over again that these universities, coaches and boosters put success on the field above everything else. Patterson has culpability in this matter and he should be fired.

@stewpot pretty sure Les Miles at LSU had a known criminal on his team, Jordan Jefferson, and didn't kick him off. Sure he got suspended for a while during the trial and as soon as the charges were dropped, he was back on the team and starting the National Championship game. Sure, he wasn't a drug dealer, but he did kick a Marine in the head. You can be the judge of which is worse. Patterson kicked these kids off before they were convicted, based on ethics alone. You want another example? Look at Cam Newton. Stole computers, cheated on tests, (took money to attend Auburn?) and still won the Heisman and the NC. So yeah, I'd say GP showed ethical behavior that's not always shown by all coaches who favor winning over "ethics."

TCUfan... he kicked them off the team after they were already expelled from school. He had no choice to keep them around once the administration threw them out. That speaks more about the TCU administration than it does Patterson. As I asked earlier, how many coaches kept drug dealers on their team after their arrest? I'm still waiting as you haven't provided me any responses. And maybe it's just me, but I tend to view drug dealers in a worse light than people involved in bar fights like Jefferson. The law tends to agree with me on that, too, given their respective punishments. But I do like your attempted slant by mentioning Lowrey's history as a Marine rather than the fact that it was a bar fight.

Patterson drug tested the entire team on February 1. It doesn't take two weeks to get the results from a drug test. He says he won't tolerate drug users in his program, but he didn't kick off any Frogs until the four were arrested and already thrown out of school. If you believe that these four are the only four guys that were involved with drugs on the entire roster (not selling, but using), then you might be high yourself. Given the likelihood that others tested positive for illegal drugs on the TCU team, why hasn't the ethical Patterson thrown them off yet? Why hasn't he discussed the drug tests at all?

Hey Stewpot... GP, on his own, demanded a random drug test after a recruit told him he was swaying away from TCU because of drug use, he never had to do that. GP doesn't need to disclose the results... I think he did the drug test to determine what exactly was going on. I for one would not like to be in the shoes of all the players who tested positive, can pretty much guarantee their lives are gonna be a living hell for awhile with stiffer punishment if they ever fail again. And, don't be surprised if more random drug test start happening now. Drug use is rampant all around us especially on college campuses, i wish it wasn't, but it is. The players who tested positive should be held accountable, yes, but using is a hell of a lot different than selling. I applaud GP for testing and I know in my heart he will do everything in his power to try to set these kids on the right path, we all make bad choices and mistakes in life... Hopefully these "users" eyes have been opened.

And, btw... I'm a trauma ICU nurse, bar fights do extreme harm, leaving people with irreversible brain damage, sometime paralysis or even death so you can get off your soap box about that.

You'd think after 10+ years the coach would get the benefit of the doubt....but no!
Some of you sound like the Duke teachers who signed a petition BEFORE all the facts were in
For the 'he should have known' crowd
You either don't have kids, your heads in the sand or your just ignorant. Your the parent chastising the school when your kid gets in trouble
Remind me how many other programs you've heard of where a coach ordered the entire team to a drug test ? Sounds like the coach was starting to realize the truth and acted proactively.
In closing let's not forget the NCAA and our legal officials have the upper hand on what a coach can and can not due. I'm sure the ACLU and a few lawyers would take issue with one positive drug test... Keep your head up Gary, you have earned the benefit of the doubt

Why did Patterson and TCU wait until after the football season to do a "surprise" drug test of their athletes if "young people’s lives are more important than wins or losses"? Maybe they can explain that to their own children.